Trump administration aims to expand work requirement for food stamps

The Trump administration unveiled a plan Thursday to impose more work requirements for Americans to receive food stamps.

The proposal could affect 775,000 able-bodied welfare recipients without children who live in areas where unemployment is 10 percent or higher. Current requirements say adults without dependents must work to collect food stamps for more than three months in a three-year period. The U.S. Department of Agriculture allows states to waive the requirement in areas where the unemployment rate is at least 20 percent greater than the national rate, which is 3.7 percent.

The USDA’s new proposal would limit the waiver to areas where unemployment exceeds 7 percent, essentially raising the benchmark for areas where it’s tougher to find work.

The goal is to restore dignity to a large segment of the population, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said. It could also save taxpayers $15 billion a year over 10 years.

“This is unacceptable to most Americans and belies common sense, particularly when employment opportunities are as plentiful as they currently are,” Perdue said.

New welfare requirements were originally in the House of Representatives version of the farm bill but the Senate version didn’t include them. The $870 million farm bill does include funding for the food stamp program, known officially as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

“A central theme of the Trump administration has been to expand prosperity for all Americans, which includes helping people lift themselves out of pervasive poverty, Purdue said.

He added the proposed rule “restores the dignity of work to a sizable segment of our population, which it’s also respectful of the taxpayers who fund the program.”

Democrats oppose the plan and question whether President Donald Trump can use his executive powers to authorize it.

“Congress writes laws, and the administration is required to write rules based on the law,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., the top ranking Democrat on the Senate agriculture committee. “Administrative changes should not be driven by ideology. I do not support unilateral and unjustified changes that would take food away from families.”

The proposed rules would require states to seek waivers every year rather than every two years.

The tougher eligibility requirements could see more people rushing to state health services offices to help them get training for jobs.

“Even with as robust a program as we have — including a partnership with every community college in the state” it would be “really hard” for Washington state to expand its job training efforts without more funding.

House Republicans were frustrated that their welfare requirements didn’t make it into final bill and support Trump’s new proposal.

“I applaud the proposed rule and proudly stand with the Trump administration in demonstrating the importance of state accountability and recipient success,” said Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, chair of the House agriculture committee.

The problem for many low-income workers is they can’t find a good job with steady hours, experts say.

“In low-wage jobs, there is significant churn week-to-week, month-to-month, in hours,” said Rachel West, director of poverty research at the Center for American Progress. “So many people cannot control their hours in today’s labor market.”

-Anyone that wants to sit on their butt and collect a check needs to work in some manner, instead of being a complete deadbeat! Over time, they should be trained to develop better skills to earn a better income, as providing more value means earning and collecting a higher salary!

-Anyone collecting from the state or federal gov’t, should be required to be drug tested.
If you take drugs, you then forfeit your right to collect from the government!

-When I was in college, a family of four showed up in a rural NE town, and applied for welfare. The town clerk told the husband to show up to work Monday morning to work. When he asked “why”, it was explained that he would be traveling with the city road crew, picking up roadkill and trash, etc.. End of the story: The family never completed moving in- they left the state and went south to Boston where they found it easier to collect and not be expected to do anything while getting a “free ride” on the taxpayer’s dime!

There should be no gravy train. There should be no “Big Rock Candy Mountain”.

People need to work. There is a degree of dignity in working. Working isn’t a curse. It’s a blessing. Ask someone who wants to work but is physically unable.

Especially in America, where we have married the concepts of what you are and what you do, people need to work.
What are you?
I’m a chemical engineer.
That’s what you do. What ARE you?

Ask a Welfare bum what they are and they will most likely get mad at you. On some level they know what they are and don’t want to admit it. They lie to themselves and say they’re “entitled” to the money but they usually know that if you’re asking the question you’re about to point out how they aren’t.

Local charities should go back to providing for the poor. Because not even the most charitable church or non-profit would enable 6th-generation Welfare bums. It’s inhuman to make these people so addicted to the govt teat.

First I am not against giving a helping hand just not the whole hand. Last I saw there were gov’t said there were 7 million job openings. That is not to say every person could do any of those jobs. Love how Senator Stabenow mislead using families in her statement when this went after welfare recipients without children. The article goes on to say these people can’t find steady hours. Bet they could find enough hours to fulfill the requirements at a couple of fast food places and car washes. But that would take a lot effort to get to work on time and place. I think some of these people should read articles were people walk for a couple of hours early just so they get to work on time.

"Words have specific meanings. Electrons are never "generated", not by a steam powered turbine, or a water powered turbine or a wind powered turbine! Believing so indicates a profound ignorance of the details of physics. Electrons exist everywhere in the environment. They can be "separated". by investing some kind of work. The work done on an electric charge..."Comment by 4drphil
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